89V6FBIRD

What's the fastest way of cutting it?? Best way of cutting it? Can I use a jigsaw? What kind of blade on a 7 1/4" circular saw???

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Any wood blade will work fine on the circular saw. I use a small 5 1/2" circular saw with a carbide wood blade. I also use a jig saw with a wood blade for tight cuts.

AJ_92RS

Not trying to step on any toes, but I've found that using a metal blade in the jigsaw makes the most accurate cuts.

The finer teeth allow more maneuvering needed for cutting holes, curves, etc. Wood blades seem to want to grab the wood, and bind up more.

One thing that my friend and I found out, even though I told him that it wouldn't work; DON'T try using a RotoZip.

I told him that MDF is NOT like real wood. It's a lot harder. But he just got this RotoZip and had to use it.

Snapped about 3 of those blades before he finally admitted I was right.

AJ

CamaroZ_85

in my opinion the best way to cut mdf is on a table saw because you will get the most accurate cut that way. but not everyone likes to put a whole sheet up on the saw (its really not that easy) and not everyone has a table saw. a piece of advice if you are using a circular saw is to cut long strips and use a fence. for example...if you need 7 pieces that will be 11x8 inches, cut a long 11 inch strip and make them out of the one piece, you will have more uniform cuts and everything will fit together nicely. (as opposed to making 7 different 11" cuts...one might come out to be 10 and 15/16 and another might be 11 and 1/8 just cause that **** always seems to happen...)

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

I hate table saws. I can't ever cut straight with one. The wood always drifts on me. That's not to say that others don't have vastly better luck than me however.

But, when I first started with a circular saw, I would clamp a metal straight edge to the wood to guide the saw. The result was a perfectly straight line. I've long-since discarded the straight edge in favor for free-hand cuts. After you spend enough time with a saw, you get good enough to leave 1/2 of a pencil line on your cuts.

89V6FBIRD

Thanks guys! Well I think I need practice w/ a circular saw, but how easy is it to work with a jigsaw? Can I make all of my cuts with it? (Straight and circular)

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

I'd avoid jig saws for straight cuts. Stick to the circular saw, and just use the jig saw for the small, intricate cuts and other stuff that you can't easily do with the circular saw. Once you get good, you can cut 1/2 a pencil line with a jig saw too, but it's a lot harder and it's a lot slower.